The honeymoon is over!!

[Jocelyn]

Well, there has to be something with these really old properties doesn't there? No big surprise then, when our nostrils were assailed by a new odour pervading the whole house from outside. Drains ---- dashed around flushing loos, manholes up, check the base of the soil stack, everything in order, no leaks, spillages, clean flowing water. Phoned the Vendor (we have become good friends) who said 'yes, it does happen from time to time'. the conclusion being that after a bout of rain, water from the properties above our ground level probably does flow to the lowest point, that being us. I know it's part of being in a very ancient village but I just wondered if there is any way of finding out more. Is it at all likely that anything can be done by the Council?
It really is a horrid smell. I think we had a similar posting earlier this year.

Otherwise, everything is going well, with some minor changes in the kitchen being implemented shortly. Then it's out with the distemper, limewash and paint brushes.

Jocelyn

 

[Me!]

We have a slightly similar problem in that we sometimes get a smell of drains coming through the overflow in the kitchen sink when a lot of water goes down another part of the drainage system quickly. I haven't investigated fully yet, but I think ours is caused by the outside gulley that the kitchen sink empties into not having a good enough trap on it so the smell from the drains gets out and into the house. The way I understand it, if all your traps are OK, and all your manhole covers fit tightly, then any nasty smells should go out the top of your soil stack. Have you checked for a birds nest or similar blocking the stack?

 

[Penners]

Jocelyn

Drain smells can often be a result of a dried out trap (aka U-bend). If a sink/washbasin/other hasn't been used for a while, the water in the trap can evaporate and allow drain smells back up the pipe. All you have to do is run a tap for a few seconds to refill the trap.

The other thing you might look into is the possibility of a "pulled" trap. If a drainage run has been badly planned, water flowing down one part of it can cause a partial vacuum in another part which sucks the water out of that trap. The solution is either to include an air admittance valve upstream from the vacuum or to learn where the problem occurs and refill the trap each time!

Aaah - period properties. Don't you just love 'em?!

David